The present invention relates to intercoms and, in particular, to a computer controlled intercom. The invention also relates to a computer program product including a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program for managing a computer-controlled intercom.
Typically intercom systems are not orientated towards ease of use. Most intercoms are merely of a telephony configuration where a calling user must go to an intercom unit and press a button in order to page a person with whom they wish to communicate. The caller""s spoken phrase is then broadcast via a plurality of connected intercom units. The person being paged must then stop what they are doing, proceed to the nearest intercom unit and press a button to establish a communication link with the caller. Each time one of the persons speaks, the button on their respective intercom unit must be depressed. Further, their entire conversation is generally broadcast via the other remaining intercom units which are connected to the system.
It is the object of the present invention to ameliorate one or more of the limitations of the intercom systems described above.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of establishing a private audio communication channel on an intercom system having a plurality of intercom units, said method comprising the steps of:
activating said intercom system by spoken request data input via at least one of said intercom units;
transmitting audio data to substantially each of said plurality of intercom units in response to said spoken request data; and
establishing a private audio communication channel between at least two of said plurality of intercom units in response to spoken reply data input via any one of said plurality of intercom units.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an intercom system comprising:
a plurality of intercom units each including at least an input means for inputting spoken data; and
processor means interconnected with said plurality of intercom units via a communication links wherein said processor means outputs audio data in response to spoken request data received from one of said plurality of intercom units via said communication link, and wherein said processor means establishes a private audio communication channel between at least two of said plurality of intercom units in response to spoken reply data recieved from at least one of said plurality of intercom units via said communication link.
According to still another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer readable medium, having a program recorded thereon, where the program is configured to make a computer execute a procedure to establish a private audio communication channel on an intercom system having a plurality of intercom units, said program comprising:
code for activating said intercom system by spoken request data input via at least one of said intercom units;
code for transmitting audio data to substantially each of said plurality of intercom units in response to said spoken request data; and
code for establishing a private audio communication channel between at least two of said plurality of intercom units in response to spoken reply data input via any one of said plurality of intercom units.